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Finance Bill

Some breweries may experience some benefit on energy, but there may not be benefits on other input prices. For example, I doubt whether their water bills have decreased. Perhaps the news is therefore not as good as the hon. Gentleman thinks, but anything that offers some relief is clearly welcome. The amendment states:""No further amendment may be made to"" the relevant section of the legislation to which it applies""within three years of the commencement, unless"" a further condition is fulfilled. My hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith and Fulham (Mr. Hands) teased out the important point that the amendment unfortunately does not appear to apply to all the types of alcohol we would like it to cover. That may be a slip in the drafting, but it puts hon. Members in a slightly difficult position because we would like to support the whole alcohol industry, not only the spirits sector. I would like the amendment to cover beer, cider and domestically produced wine—that would mean covering all wine—as well as spirits. Under the amendment, the condition that must be fulfilled before a further increase is allowed is""that the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall have compiled and laid before the House of Commons a report containing an assessment of the impact of the increases in alcohol liquor duty on… the competitiveness of licensed premises, and… the level of employment in alcohol-related industry, and the House of Commons"" would have a chance to consider and vote on the report. One colleague asked a perfectly good question about the cost of the report. It is right to show concern about runaway public spending, even when it comes down to such relatively small details. However, given the wide range of civil servants and the substantial recruitment of civil servants that the Government have undertaken in recent years, I hope that existing teams could absorb the task. I am sure that the industry would make any evidence and information available to those compiling the report. I therefore hope that that worry will be allayed if the Government promise to act in a value-for-money spirit and ascertain whether the report could be covered in the normal course of their operations.